• Variety of beans: Adzuki, Black/Turtle, Cannellini, Fava/Broad bean, Garbanzo/Chick pea, Cranberry, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto
  
• Beans in theory have a lengthy shelf life, however, they are best when used within six months of purchase.
  
• Store dried beans in a cool, dry, well-ventilated area.
  
• Most beans, with a few notable exceptions (lentils, split peas, and black-eyed peas), are easier to prepare and produce a better-quality finished dish if they are allowed to soak.  The skins soften slightly, allowing for more rapid and even cooking. 
  
• Rinse and sort beans to remove dirt, stones, and moldy specimens.  Place the rinsed and sorted beans in a container and add enough cool water to cover them by a few inches.  Soak the beans for 2 to 6 hours or until the skins are well shriveled.  Overnight soaking will make the beans ferment (as indicated by gas bubbles on the surface of the water), and they will become more difficult to digest and more likely to cause flatulence (the polite word for plain old intestinal gas).
  
• Add salt 30 minutes into the cooking.  If salt is added at the beginning beans becomes very difficult to soften, if salt is not added until the very end beans will taste under seasoned to the bite and additional salt will make the finished product lack depth and taste overly salty.
  
• To prevent overcooked, shaggy-looking and mushy beans cook very slowly in a partially covered heavy-bottom pot to minimize evaporation; the lid should be about an inch off to the side.  Beans should be tender to the bite, not mushy.
  
• Beans are marvelous cooked with pork.  Prosciutto and pancetta give the best flavor.  Salt pork or bacon is also good choices.  Smoked ham hocks can be used but their smoky flavor is very strong.
  
• Do not add acidic ingredients to beans until they are completely cooked.  The acid prevents beans from softening.  Acidic ingredients accents beans flavor.
  
• The amount of liquid needed for cooking dried beans depends upon the type of bean, but 6 quarts of water to 1 pound of beans is a good general formula.
  

Approximate Soaking and Cooking Times for Beans